OBAMA ON IRAN: WITH THIS, I GIVE YOU PEACE IN OUR TIME:
“Because of this deal,” Barack Obama said this morning from the White House, “we have stopped the spread of nuclear weapons in this region.” Want to bet? With Iran unleashed economically and militarily, this deal may end up guaranteeing nuclear proliferation on a massive scale in the Middle East.
Which is why at Commentary, John Podhoretz reserves “The Right to Despair:”
The president and the secretary of state are making large claims for the deal that are not true; the same will be true of all of its signatories, who are seeing Nobel stars in their eyes. This is an infamous day, and while those of us who see Iran’s nuclearization as the threshold threat for the rest of the 21st century will not be silent and will not give up the fight against it, it is appropriate to take a moment to despair that we — the United States and the West — have come to this.
Meanwhile on Twitter:
weird how all the people who hate israel are most excited about this deal that supposedly helps protect israel.
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) July 14, 2015
@jpodhoretz @instapundit Left wins, no more middle east adventurism now it's a nuclear theater. No Iraq's, Libya take down, Syrian red lines
— Simarilian (@simarilian) July 14, 2015
As Ed Morrissey adds at Hot Air, “The anytime-anywhere inspections were supposed to be non-negotiable. Even the Obama administration knew that; they had told Congress at the beginning of the process that this would be a deal-breaker for the US. Instead, Barack Obama and John Kerry tossed it aside to get their piece of paper. The only possible way to view this is the beginning of a long retreat by the US from the region, and don’t think for a moment that our allies don’t recognize it.”
And it gets worse from there, Max Boot writes at Commentary:
What this means is that Iran will soon have more than $100 billion extra to spend not only on exporting the Iranian revolution and dominating neighboring states (Gen. Soleimani’s job) but that it will also before long be free to purchase as many weapons — even ballistic missiles — as it likes on the world market. No wonder Vladimir Putin appears to be happy: This deal is likely to become a windfall for Russian arms makers, although you can be sure that Iran will also spread its largesse to manufacturers in France and, if possible, the UK so as to give those countries an extra stake in not re-imposing sanctions.
To sum up: The agreement with Iran, even if Iran complies (which is a heroic assumption), will merely delay the weaponization of Iran’s nuclear program by a few years, while giving Iran a massive boost in conventional power in the meantime. What do you think Iran’s Sunni neighbors, all of whom are terrified of Iranian power, will do in response? There is a good possibility that this agreement will set off a massive regional arms race, in both conventional and nuclear weaponry, while also leading states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar to make common cause with the Islamic State as a hedge against Iranian designs in the region.
And both Boot and Morrissey write (as did Elizabeth here as well) that it’s highly unlikely that Congress can block the deal. “Assuming, as appears probable, that this deal is in fact implemented,” Boot writes, “future historians may well write of July 14, 2015, as the date when American dominance in the Middle East was supplanted by the Iranian Imperium.”
Or as Roger Simon writes, “Obama Signs Iran Deal, Says Bye-Bye to Western Civilization.”
The right to despair, indeed.